Yes I was very surprised to hear that my agnostic-atheish (sic) friend was having her children pray at night (the, "Now I lay me down to sleep" one)
I asked about this and she and her husband basically equated the whole thing to saying there was a Santa Claus too.
Pretty weird if you ask me, although I had trouble responding why I thought there was a big difference between teaching kids there is a Santa and teaching kids there is a God.
I also think its a culture thing -
Having grown up in the north east USA, I celebrated Christmas (secular) even though my parents were agnostic (actually they were each raised Jewish). Now that I live in the Bible Belt, I guess the cultural norm here is Christianity revved up a few notches compared to the north, so my friend simply views praying as a cultural norm. That's how I made sense of it.

I'm a heathen and I say grace at meals sometimes.

When I'm in a group of mixed faiths we have a very nice generic grace that goes as follows:

For food, for rainment, for life, for opportunity, for friendship and fellowship, we thank you, o Lord, Amen.

It's called The Philmont Grace from the Philmont Scout Ranch in New mexico.

I also say thanks for my food, but not to God, but to the dairy farmer who woke that morning before dawn to milk the cow so I didn't have to.

I say thanks to the butcher who slaughtered the pig and cow so I didn't have to.

I say thanks to the migrants who picked the lettuce and grapes so I didn't have to.

I say thanks to the truck drivers who hauled the food so I didn't have to.

And sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I will thank the divine being for letting it all happen that day, rather than sending an Earthquake like he did last night in Indonesia, killing 3000 people.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with praying, just because one is agnostic.

We don't know if God is there, we don't know what God is - or is like - even if he is there.

Just because we don't know, doesn't make it wrong to pray. You can just pray to the universe or to your deceased ancestors if you wish.

When my Dad died my daughter was five. I told her that Grandad was no longer strong enough to live on earth with us, so he was going to live in heaven with the angels. And maybe he is. It doesn't mean that it's the restricted Christian view of heraven - maybe it's that he is still alive and loved in our hearts.

Anyway, my daughter, being five, interpreted it in her own way. She thought that Grandad had gone to live in fairyland, It made her happy. It was a nice thought. And do I know differently? No. I don't 'know' anything about heaven or hell or fairies or God.

I actually believe in Santa Claus - or Father Christmas, as I call him - not as in him being 'real', but as in the special spirit of love that believing in him brings.

when ever I have something going on that is extremely important, such as the health of one of my family members, I find myself "praying" to my deceased mother and step-brother.
But I honestly don't know if they are "out there" - but if they are, I have alot more faith that they would look out for me than any God.

I've actually said something very similar on the forum before.

That's probably why I feel that, if anyone saved my son the day he was in the road accident, it was my Dad.

Is that b/c these people from your lives were living, breathing souls at one time that you can prove existed?

That probably has a lot to do with it.

Maybe it's also because members of my family have felt themselves 'contacted' by lost loved-ones, so we sense that they are still there and still care. I have given examples before.

To me, it has nothing to do with whether I know for sure that they existed, I just know how much my mother loved me, and if she could do anything for me, she would. And my step brother would probably do the same if he had the power to help.
If they are out there, they would help if they could.
If God is out there, I am not sure that He would help if He could - seems to me He has chosen not to help many others (Tsunami victims, etc) - for whatever reasons He may have.

Yes, I don't know if God exists, but if he does, I can't see why he would be particularly interested in my problems - there are plenty of others crises for 'him' to concern himself with.

My own loved-ones - that's different. I don't know if they can help me, either, but I know that they would try, if they could,

I can understand how you would see things that way.